Tuesday, December 28, 2010

In Wrath of the Lich King, they found easy ways to raise your reputation with factions whether it was tabards or relics of Ulduar. And, thank God they did. Remembering back from Burning Crusade where you had to run heroic in Zangarmarsh over and over and over again to raise Cenarion Expedition rep to get the best pre-raid feral tanking staff was insane.

In Cataclysm, they have expanded it to include every faction in the game including your major capital cities. (Which I personally appreciate after having got Crusader on my main and had to raise my city rep by either cloth or questing. A level 80 druid doing level 1 gnome/dwarf quest just didn't seem right.) However, determining which factions to do first can be a little tricky. Let me go through each of the major factions and break down what goodies you can get as a moonkin.

Wildhammer Clan - The Alliance faction found out in Twilight Highlands, the Wildhammer Clan has some of the most interesting quest to open up its faction. Also, there are several great rewards for moonkins as you raise your rep. At honored, you get leather caster shoulders. At revered, you get a nice caster ring. However, at exalted, you get a couple of nice epics. You get an epic caster neck and an incredibly nice caster waist. Also, there is a bonus if you are a feral tank because the leather gloves at exalted may end up being BiS until you get into heroic raids. Priority: High

Guardians of Hyjal - The single biggest thing you want from this faction is the head enchant at revered, the Arcanum of Hyjal, which will be your standard enchant for all your head pieces of gear as a moonkin. Beyond that, there is not a lot of great moonkin gear from here. There is a 333 cloak at honored and 346 leather caster gloves at revered. Unless you are a feral tank, there is nothing for you at exalted. However, solely due to the head enchant, you should get this faction to revered early. Priority: High

Earthen Ring - Yes, Thrall may be there, but that doesn't mean as a moonkin, you should be. At least not at first. Both the caster pieces at honored and revered you could use have critical strike (Yuck!) and mastery (I just threw up in my mouth a little.) In addition, there is nothing at exalted for moonkins. Again, depending on your offspec, you may want to hit this early if you are a tank due to the head enchant. However, if you are focused on moonkin, stay away from Earthen Ring to begin with. Priority: Low

Therazane - Cataclysm's Sons of Hodir in more ways than one. First off, you start off as hated. Through about 5 quest, you quickly become friendly. However, the difference is they have a tabard this time instead of relics to up your reputation. In addition, they are also the faction with your shoulder enchants starting at honored. While the 346 rings are nothing special (unless you are a feral tank), you really want to get your shoulder enchants quickly, at least the honored ones to start. Priority: High

Ramkahen - Come on. Do you expect a race of cat people to have anything for moonkins? Besides a 333 caster ring at honored, there is not a lot here except for a camel mount, which is gonna be awesome. However, in terms of priority, it is not gonna be the highest. They don't even have a lot of good feral druid stuff here. Priority: Low

Baradin's Warden - The Tol Barad faction. There are a lot of interesting rewards, but nothing that really jumps out for moonkins though, although reforging the Slump of Time's hit into a massive amount of haste might be awesome. Also, there are a couple of cool mounts. However, this faction has no tabard and can only be raised by doing Tol Barad, which personally, I love more than Wintergrasp. Priority: Low

So if I was going to rate the order in which I would do factions based solely on moonkin, here is the order I personally would go in:

1) Therazane to Honored2) Guardians of Hyjal to Revered3) Wildhammer Clan to Exalted4) Therazane to Exalted5) Guardians of Hjyal to Exalted6) Ramkahen to Exalted7) Earthen Ring to Exalted8) Baradin's Warden to Exalted (Through Every Tol Barad)

Of course, taking into account the tanking offspec, I might get Earthen Ring to Revered before Guardians of Hyjal to Exalted for the head tanking enchant.

Just a reminder, you have until Friday to get in your entries for the Header Contest. I still only have two entries so if you enter, you have an incredibly good chance of winning one of the main prizes.

Finally, I'm going to start working on a couple new blog projects. I don't want to give anything away yet because I'm not certain about what I'm doing yet, but I have a few ideas. One is likely going to be a personal blog for stuff outside of gaming in general, like the fact that I got engaged this weekend. I'm also thinking about resurrecting a general video game blog. Just keep an eye out here for what may be coming up next.

The legs aren't bad. But I don't know if it is better than the other upgrades you can get between Justice Points and the other factions. Also, I used my JPs initally for the Leggings of Late Blooms that have a lot of haste with mastery to reforge on it.

Plus, there are only two places for Earthen Ring rep. One is Vashj'ir, which I hate. The other is Deepholm. To unlock Therazane, you are gonna get some good rep with Earthen Ring anyway completing the first two quest chains. That is why it is further down on my list.

I don't understand what everyone's problem with Vashj'ir. Druids are OP in that zone due to aquatic form. I blew through that zone in less than 6 hours, and by the time I finished Deepholm, I was halfway through honored anyway.

JP should be spent on the belt and the helm first IMO. Then, you can start saving up for the chest while you wear your Earthen Ring legs.

I went back to Vashj'ir on my mage, who I started leveling up to 85. It was not as bad as I thought. Maybe my day 1 impression was bad because of the gankers there. It is a lot of fun actually, especially getting the seahorse.

I went to see what some other bloggers are saying about Earthen Ring and many are agreeing with me about it's place in line. I will direct you to Gray Matter (http://bit.ly/dVL9Yd) who agrees with me except its exact place. She puts it as next to last. I put it as last due to the fact that I like camels.